Feeding the Hungry Heart: The Experience of Compulsive Eating

by Geneen Roth

Book Overview

#1 New York Times bestselling author of Women Food and God This is how Geneen Roth remembers her time as an emotional overeater and self-starver. After years of struggle, Roth finally broke free from... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452270839
• ISBN13: 9780452270831
• Release Date: September 1993
• Publisher: Plume Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Stop punishing yourself! Learn to love yourself

It has been said frequently that this is not a diet book. It is in a healing book. It takes the die out of diets. Many people as children or in some part of their lives have experienced having food deprivation as some part of a punishment system. Others have been deprived because of selfish parents. Others have been deprived of food when they are hungry due to some other emotional assault on their sense of self. This is an empowering book. It teaches us to listen to our inner being. We learn to approach food and eating differently. We learn why we want to eat. And we learn to nourish our inner and outer self so we can eat to truly care for ourselves in a healthy way, not a way that simply damages our emotional and physical selves. This book can help heal our emotional damage and lead to a more healthy self inside and outside.

In Response to the person who said it's a waste of money

I am sorry you thought this book was a waste of money. This is not the book to read if you are looking for a diet. "Where are the answers?" you say... Well, the answers are in the stories of these women who have struggled with the agony of a shameful addiction. This book is so totally anti-diet. Anti-depriving yourself. It's about being good to yourself, maybe for the first time ever.It's about figuring out WHY, so you can then work toward healing.The author was not whining. She was simply telling her story, her truth. She tells her story about food, weight, shame, dieting, and the torment of being teased by other kids, in a touching, yet humorous manner.Maybe you have not suffered the pain of addiction, possibly? I don't know.I am in a position to give some advice because I identified with many of the women in this book. I suffered for years with food problems and I am finally free. My heart aches for people who are still struggling. This book has helped me in my battle to start being good to myself.Do yourself a favor, forget about dieting. Eat what you want when you are truly hungry for food. Don't listen to people who tell you you are too fat. Make exercise fun. Enjoy your food, enjoy moving your body. Enjoy life.Be good to you.There's you answer.

Geneen Roth Rules!

I've had issues with food for aprox.40 years. In 1986 I spent 30 days in an eating disorder rehab, followed their rigid food plan & philosophies, lost weight, gained it back,spent years going to therapists in that field, followed every diet on this planet & even created my own, became totally confused & bewildered, hopeless, helpless. I prayed, crossed my fingers, lit candles, took new medications & did everything but offer my first born in return for a miracle. Well, the miracle came in the form of the "Feeding the Hungry Heart" audio cassette & thanks be for it, because I love my first born daughter. I play it whenever I'm in the car, & it's been almost a month now, & I can honestly say that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, knowing the light won't go out.Hallelujah! Everything Geneen says hits home & I agree with her principals & guidelines 100%. There's no psycho babble. She keeps it simple & honest,giving advice & guidance as a sister-sufferer who knows & has been on the same bleak path I plodded along for so many years. And she often does it with humor, a definite bonus. I just finished ordering the cassette for a friend & wish I could afford to send one to each of my friends who could certainly benefit from it. Spreading the word will have to suffice. Now you know why Geenen Roth rules, in my book.

To the person from Mendocino - you're lucky.

Because I doubt if Ms. Roth's early years with an abusive mother, emotionally absent father were fiction. Ms. Roth's first book was truly a brave recounting of her conflict with food and you can clearly understand that her childhood had a lot to do with that (as it does for many of us). I also appreciated the writings from other women who've been through the same battles. It really never ends. You have to constantly be vigilant. I would recommend this to anyone who uses food for comfort, anesthesia, etc. The book makes sense.

I read this book over 20 times

I have struggled with my weight for most of my 31 years. I bought this book a few years ago and it showed me that I am not crazy - other women have had the same thoughts and actions that I have...Thank God! Whenever I start to feel overwieght or even THINK about going on another diet, I read this book and it puts me right back on track. I loved this book. LOVED it. It has significantly affected the way I view my body and the way I treat myself now.